| Popstars: The Rivals | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Presented by | Davina McCall |
| Judges | Pete Waterman Louis Walsh Geri Halliwell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Nigel Hall Duncan Gray |
| Producers | Claudia Rosencrantz Nicholas Steinberg |
| Running time | 30–60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company | LWT |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 7 September – 22 December 2002 |
| Related | |
| Popstars | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series, broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say (the other finalists went on to form Liberty X), Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and went on to nearly achieve 20 consecutive top-ten hits (interrupted only by 2007 promotional single Theme To St Trinian's), including four number ones, and six top-ten albums, two of which reached number one. Group member Cheryl has achieved five solo number-one singles and two number-one albums.
Popstars The Rivals aired on ITV1 on Saturday nights from 7 September 2002, beginning with three pre-recorded episodes of preliminary audition rounds before switching to live broadcasts of studio performances. During the rounds of the live show, viewers voted for their favourite performers by telephone and the Red Button on digital television remote controls. In the final weeks, five women and five men were chosen by viewers to form the two groups, boy band One True Voice and girl group Girls Aloud. The final episode of Popstars: The Rivals aired live on 22 December 2002. During the broadcast, Pepsi Chart Show presenter Neil Fox revealed in a live link-up that "Sound of the Underground", recorded by Girls Aloud,had reached number one on the Singles Chart, thereby becoming the Christmas number one. One True Voice's double A-side single "Sacred Trust/After You're Gone" entered the chart at number two.
The series was hosted by Davina McCall, with the performances judged by Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell. In addition to the main show, Popstars: The Rivals Extra aired on both ITV2 after the main ITV1 show on Saturdays and also as a teatime show on ITV1 during the week. Both versions of the show were presented by pop star Dane Bowers and Pop Idol finalist Hayley Evetts.